Improvement in fire-alarm-telegraph signal-boxes



A. C. 8a A. H. PALMER. Fire-AlarmTelegraph Signal-Box. N0. 197,400.

Patented Nov. 20, 1877.

HVGHtOIS 1 NITED STATES ATENT rrron.

AUGUSTUS G. PALMER AND AUGUSTUS H. PALMER, OF UTIOA, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN FlRE-ALARM-TELEGRAPH SIGNAL-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 197,400, dated November 20, 1877; application filed April 25, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, AUGUSTUS 0. PAL- MER and AUGUSTUS H. PALMER, of Utica, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Alarm-Telegraph Apparatus, and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference beiu g had to the accompany mg drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification, in which like letters designate like parts of the invention.

This invention relates to apparatus for fire alarm telegraphs; and consists in certain improvements in the construction of the mechanism placed in the signal-box from which the alarm is transmitted, as hereinafter more fully shownand described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows, in front view, the sliding carriage and its connections. Fig. 2 is a side yiew of the carriage and other details. Fig. 3 is a top view of the carriage and other details. Fig. 4 is a front view of the verge and balance and the escapement-wheel. Fig. 5 represents, in side view, certain details in that part of the mechanism where the circuit is broken and renewed in the operation. Fig. 6 illustrates the working of the dogs used, in connection with the shaft of wheel G, herein described.

A designates a sliding carriage, which is made of suitable weight for the purpose of the operation herein described. Said carriage is in an upright position, and moves up and down against plate B at the rear, the tongues a, fixed to the carriage, projecting into grooves a, forming a way on the plate B, the latter being usually about twice the length of the carriage.

G is a rack, fastened to one side of the carriage A, the opposite side being provided with another rack, G, as shown. On a shaft, D, having its bearings in plate B, and in an arm or support, B, projecting therefrom, is a pinion, E, which engages with the rack O. The escapement-wheel F is also on the shaft D, and is provided with a ratchet and springpawl, b, so applied that wheel F is not revolved with shaft D when the carriage A is moved upward.

The verge N .is pivoted to an arm or support, in proper position to engage with the escapement-wheel F. It has attached to it a balance or regulator, L, the weight of which is mostly above, as shown.

G is a gear-wheel, which engages with the rack O, and is provided with a ratchet and pawl to prevent it turning back.

The shaft of wheel G has bearing for its forward end in a suitable support, and its rear end has bearing in an elongated eye, 8, in

plate B. This allows wheel G to be thrown out of gear and from the rack O in the following manner, it being observed that the notches between the teeth of rack O are gradually lessened in depth toward the lower end of said rack, as indicated at w. The carriage A being raised-by rotating wheel G, and the rack O rising with the carriage, as that part of the rack 00 where the notches are gradually reduced to a plane meshes with wheel G, said wheel is pushed from the rack, the eye s allowing a lateral movement of the shaft of the wheel.

Back of the winding-wheel G are pivoted two dogs, 0 and a, (see Fig. 6,) each being provided with a spring, d and d, pressing it 'to the shaft of the wheel.

' When, by the upward movement of the carriage A, the wheel G is thrown out of gear and from the rack C, the dog 0, being pressed by the spring 01, detains the shaft, thus holding the wheel from the rack. At the same time a limb or projection, f, on the side of the carriage, and at the lower end, pushes the upper dog 0 from the shaft, and allows the slight lateral movement in the eye 8. When the carriage descends the lower dog 0 is pushed from the shaft by a limb or projection,

ing the required signal. The horizontal shaft 9, having its hearings in armsprojecting from a the plate 13, has fixed thereto'the' key K, the

lower end of which turns at an angle to the rack H, (see Fig. 2,) and has awedge-shaped point, which is thrown into the teeth of the rack, the; key K being actuated. and pressed to the rack 11 by means of a spiral spring, 2', on the shaft 9. The spring '5 has one end secured .to. acollar, m, by which, with the screw n, the spring may be adjusted as to its-ten slon.

Aspring, M, is placed inposition at one side of wheel G, the spring being provided with teeth, as shown, and so arranged that when the wheel G is thrown from the rack O, the teeth of M mesh with the teeth. of thewheel, and hold wheel G in-eorreetposition to strike the rack when again thrown in "gear with it by the spring h.

I is :thevwire for conducting the current,

the point-where- 'the circuit is broken being between'the fixed piece .-J 1 and the thin plate J, which is fastened at its'upperextremity; and hasrits lower endpressed against J by a spring, 0. -(See--I1ig. .5.) Arectangular arm,

1?, fixed to the shaft ,9, extends across and in front -of the plate J, and: has a movement similar to and simultaneous with the keyK; so that at everystroke of the key, as the carriage descends, the arm Pstrikes the plate J, press: ing it from the piece J, towhich-it is immedi:

ately returnedby the springvo. Thus the cir euitis-broken every time the point of the key is thrown into a notch in the rack H. 1 .About the time when-the carriage A has run down, thekey K is raised and {held from i the rack H by meansof. a small bar, 7a,.provided with a fi'ictionroller, r, at its forward end. (SeeFigsZ) Thisbar k ispivoted to, a

suitable support andheld inpositionbaek 1 of a plate, Q, which is fastened to the keyHK, so that by a movement of the bar on its pivot, the roller'r-movingagainst the plate Q, the

' key K maybe raised from the rack H; as indicated in Fig. 2. The movement of thepiv-f oted bar In to throw the: key from therack is caused by aprojection, I, fixed to the side of the carriage A. As the carriage descends, this projection strikes the .rear endvofgtheipivoted bar, and the forward end, which holds the roller, presses the key from the rack, as

above stated. When the carriage is raised,

another projection, Z, fixed to the side of it, strikes upward against the rear it end i of the bar 70, which is thus turned on its pivot, and the key K is allowed to return to the rack H.

Suitable stops or shoulders are formed on the support, to which bar Ic'is pivoted, to prevent the bar turning around too far.

'The carriage having been raised, by means of a crank on the shaft, of the wheel G, and

as-shown, to throwthewheel Gr Out of gear,

as set forth.

2. The wheel G, with its shaft, having bearingin the eye s, and thedogs 0 andcqin combination with the proj ectionsfandfflastened to the carriage, substantially as shown.

23sThe-rectangular-arm-P on the shaft g, the plate J, having spring 0, and thejixed =.piece-J, as andfor the purposes-described.

,4. The pivoted bar 70, having thezroller 93in combination with the plateQ on key Kand the projections and l', fixed to the carriage, as and-for the purposesdeseribed.

5. The gear-wheel G, provided-withathe toothed spring M, as andfor the purposes=described. I

lntestimony that we claim the foregoing as ourownwe have affixed our signatures-preslence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTUS Io. PALMER. AUGUSTUS H. PALMER.

Witnesses:

*JAM'ES B. PADDON, 'Jnssn O FosT R. 

